Been working hard...I've been thinking about my blog friends and have been wanting to update stuff but it has all been a blur... I am in Fukuoka till today but will be heading back to Osaka in a few hours...

I found lots of fish in a river nearby my mother's home...let's see if the video works!

It's huge and it's yellow....what is it?

Long time no speak... I have been in Tokyo again and am finally back. I am still learning the ropes of my new job as a sales consultant for a textbook publisher. it is so far great fun to talk with a lot of "educated" people and I am learning lots.


I am VERY busy during weekdays and I sometimes will have to work on the weekends as well, but it is fairly peaceful compared to what I have done in the past...


...I am literally crying because I am happy to have TWO DAYS OFF IN A ROW. Which sounds normal but it wasn't for a long time and so I actually feel....well....blessed.


AMEN.


Anyway, on my last day off I went to Osaka's "Aqua Metrpolis Osaka 2009"... it goes on till the 12th of October and I think this is the first year that the city has "celebrated" the waterways.
They are trying to clean up the rivers and make them more popular again.


(There are several rivers in the city that used to be major waterways for distribution but highways and trucks have basically taken over.
The City has a nice website in English over here if you are interested in learning more...)


ANYWAY,
My husband and I went to see what was going on at the festival...which turned out to be much smaller than I had imagined BUT ...it was still rather interesting.


For example, what do you think this is?

Wow...how did you know?!

Yep...it just as well could be one of the world's largest...

say hello to the yellow rubber ducky...

floating in the river that runs through the Nakanoshima Park

It is 9.5 meteres tall (the size of a three story house?)

The duck was designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hoffman.

You can find out more about the rubber duck (and him) by clicking here.

There were also windmills made out of recycled plastic bottles...

Do you see the rubber ducky in the back there?

(The rubber ducky is now in a different part of Osaka...Suminoe-ku)

...

There was also a sand castle....

A Japanese style sand castle.

There was a lot more to enjoy, but since this is getting rather long, I will leave the rest for my next post...

Thank you for patiently waiting for my post...I have heard of some troubles with posting comments...I think the problem is fixed now but if you still have problems with comments could you please let me know by e-mailing me? Click here for the e-mail...no spam please ;-)

I hope you have a great weekend! I know I will!